Convertible railhighway vehicle

ABSTRACT

A rail travel attachment for road vehicles having pneumatic tires includes a rail guide wheel adjacent each vehicle wheel for engagement with the rails of a railway. Longitudinal beams connected to the axles of the vehicle support front and rear rail guide wheels on each side of the vehicle. Hydraulically actuated jacks rotate each rail guide wheel into and out of engagement with the rails to guide the vehicle on the rails, rear pneumatic wheels of the vehicle resting on and engaging the rail. A manually actuated locking pawl associated with each of the hydraulically actuated jacks securely locks each rail guide wheel in either its rail engaging position or in its upper out-of-rail engaging position.

[ 51 May 1, 1973 1 1 CONVERTIBLE RAILHIGHWAY VEHICLE [75] Inventor: JohnD. Holley, Montgomery, Ala.

[73] Assignee: Holley Engineering Co., Inc., Montgomery, Ala.

22 Filed: o:.29,1971

211 App1.No.: 193,654

[52] US. Cl. 2...]05/215 C, 104/245 [51] Int. Cl. ..B61d 15/00,B6lf9/00, B62d 61/12 [58] Field of Search 104/245; 105/215 C [56]References Cited U N lTED STATES PATENTS Primary Examiner-Gerald M.Forlenza Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran Attorney-William B. Kerkam [57 ABSTRACT A rail travel attachment for road vehicles having pneumatictires includes a rail guide wheel adjacent each vehicle wheel forengagement with the rails of a railway. Longitudinal beams connected tothe axles of the vehicle support front and rear rail guide wheels oneach side of the vehicle. l-lydraulically actuated jacks rotate eachrail guide wheel into and out of engagement with the rails to guide thevehicle on the rails, rear pneumatic wheels of the vehicle resting onand engaging the rail. A manually actuated locking pawl associated witheach of the hydraulically actuated jacks securely locks each rail guidewheel in either its rail engaging position or in its upper out-of-railengaging position.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented May 1, 1973 3,730,105

2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR J0 HN 0. HO'LLEY BY ,mwwm Mam fJuZZowATTORNEYS Patented May 1, 1973 3,730,105

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR J OHN D. HOLLEY mmm Mm 9 m ATTORNEYSCONVERTIBLE RAILI-IIGIIW AY VEHICLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thepresent invention relating as it does to rail travel attachment for useon road vehicles is found in a highly developed art, generallyclassified as railway rolling stock, trucks with supplemental wheels andin land vehicle attachments with retractable supports. Prior art patentssuch as US. Pat. No. 2,968,260 to A. H. Scheldrup dated Jan. 17, 1961;US. Pat. No. 2,986,102 to W. T. Cox dated May 30, 1961; US. Pat. No.3,249,067 to R. E. Keller dated May 3, 1966; and US. Pat. No. 3,311,067to H. Gretzchler et al. dated Mar. 28, 1967 show such rail travelattachments for ground vehicles in which longitudinal spaced beams areconnected under the vehicle axles for alignment retention of the railguide wheels and further these patents show hydraulic pistons andcylinders for bringing the rail guide wheels into engagement with therails and for moving the rail guide wheels out of engagement with therails. The patent to Keller discloses an over-thecenter locking devicefor maintaining the rail guide wheels in engagement with the rails.

The present invention provides numerous advantages over the prior artand particularly in the locking pawl provided with over-the-centerresilient actuating means for locking the rail guide wheel in its railengaging position and its upper out-of-rail engaging position withoutplay to prevent rattle and wear. Manual means are provided on the pawlfor easily changing the over-the-center resilient means whereby the pawlis readily disengaged for movement of the rail guide wheel. The presentinvention also provides novel means for adjusting the position of eachrail guide wheel supporting unit to readily adjust for the size, wearand inflation of the pneumatic tires of the vehicle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The rail travel attachment includes a pair ofspaced longitudinal beams secured to and beneath the axles of a roadvehicle supported on pneumatic tires with a rail guide wheel mounted oneach end of each beam adjacent a wheel of the vehicle and provided witha hydraulic piston and cylinder means for rotating each rail guide wheelinto and out of engagement with the rail. The rail guide wheel is lockedin either its rail engaging position or in its out-of-rail engagingposition by a locking pawl actuated manually by an over-the-centerresilient member. The rail guide or flanged wheel supporting structureengages a cushion when in raised position to prevent rattling and eachrail wheel supporting structure is provided with adjusting screw meansto provide for proper contact with the rail and to compensate forvariations in size, pressure and wear of the vehicle tires.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences characters indicate like parts, a preferred embodiment of therail travel attachment of the present invention is shown for one railguide or flanged wheel only, the support construction for each of thefour rail guide or flanged wheels for the vehicle being identical. Inthese drawings,

FIG. 1 shows a rail guide or flanged wheel in rail engaging positionadjacent a front wheel of a road vehicle in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows structure for connecting the longitudinal beams supportingthe aligned, adjacent pairs of rail guide or flanged wheels to the rearaxle of the vehicle; and

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the invention of FIG. 1 with the railguide wheel raised and locked out of rail engaging position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the severalfigures of the drawings, rail guide or flanged wheels 2 are attached ateach end of longitudinally spaced beams 11 secured beneath the axles ofthe vehicle and to adjacent the pneumatic tires of the vehicle. FIGS. 1and 3 show a front rail guide wheel 2 adjacent the front pneumatic tire39 of the vehicle wheel located in front of front axle 31 of thevehicle. It is to be understood that each rail guide wheel 2 and itsoperating structure to be described hereinafter are identical so that itwill suffice to describe but one of these constructions, it beingunderstood that for the conventional four wheeled vehicle four such railguide wheels are employed and the beams 11 are aligned, as shown in theprior art, whereby each rail guide wheel engages the rail when inlowered position in such a way that the adjacent one of the pneumatictires of the vehicles rests upon and engages the rail shown generally inFIGS. 1 and 3 and 40. Each of the rail guide wheels 2 is mounted onsuitable bearings in turn mounted on axle plate 20 which is pivotallymounted on a pivot pin 15. Pivot pin 15 is mounted in adjustmentbrackets 21. Pivot pin 15 is mounted in adjustable brackets 21 which inturn are pivotally mounted on the adjacent longitudinal rail 11 on pivotpin 30. Rails 11 are mounted beneath the axles of the vehicle and areconnected to front axle 31 by axle blocks 10 and U-bolts 8. Shackle pin32 passes through block 8 and supports shackle bars 9 which in turn areconnected to rail 11 by shackle pin 32'. As seen in FIG. 2, rails 11connect to the rear axle 33 of the vehicle by pivot pin 7, axle pad 6and axle pad bolts 5.

Brackets 21 are adjusted vertically with respect to beam 11 tocompensate for the size and wear of pneumatic tire 39 by oppositelyacting screws 34 and 35, screw 34 raising brackets 21 with respect tobeam 11 and screw 35 lowering brackets 21 with respect to beam 11, thesescrews being locked in conventional manner after adjustment. A lock bolt36 may also be used to lock brackets 21 with respect to beam 11 afteradjustment. A lock bolt 36 may also be used to lock brackets 21 withrespect to beam 11 after adjustment of screws 34 and 35.

Axle plate 20 is pivotally rotated about pivot 15 by hydraulic cylinder13 and its piston rod 13'. Cylinder 13 is pivotally connected tobrackets 21 at pivot 12 and piston rod 13 is pivotally connected at 37to axle plate 20. As seen in FIG. 1, rail guide wheel 2 is in loweredposition in engagement with rail 40 and piston rod 13' is extended. InFIG. 3, rail guide wheel 2 is in retracted position and is rotated fromrail engaging position through an angle of about to clear the rail forhighway travel position of the vehicle.

Axle plate and rail guide wheel 2 are locked in rail engagement positionby a locking pawl 19 having engaging surfaces 19 and 19". Pawl 19 ispivotally mounted on pivot 18 carried by plate 20 and is urged intolocking position by manually actuated handle 16 mounted on pivot 18 andurged into over-the-center position with respect to pivot 18 by spring17 connected to handle 16 at pin 16' and to pivot 15. Pin 16' engagespawl 19 on opposite sides of pivot 18. As shown in FIG. 1, when railguide wheel 2 is in engagement with rail 40, spring 17 urges handle 16in a clockwise direction in an over-the-center position with respect topivot 18 and through pin 16' engages surface 19' of pawl 19 with surface40' of block 40 mounted between brackets 21. Engagement of the surface19' with surface 40' of block 40 locks the rail guide wheel 2 in loweredposition and the same cannot be accidentally retracted while at the sametime wear and rattling is minimized.

When rail guide wheel 2 is to be raised, handle 16 is rotated in acounterclockwise direction as seen in FIG. 1 and spring 17 then passesover pivot 18 and will tend to rotate pawl 19 about pivot 18 in acounterclockwise direction to disengage surface 19 from surface 41). Itwill probably be necessary to extend piston rod 13' a little to permitpawl 19 to rotate as above-described.

Piston rod 13' is then retracted into cylinder 13 rotating rail guidewheel 2 and supporting structure into the position shown in FIG. 3. Itwill be noted that in this raised position of rail guide wheel 2, plate20 adjacent pivot 37 engages pad or resilient cushion 14 mounted betweenbrackets 21 to prevent rattling and wear of the structure. It will alsobe noted that, in the raised position, pawl 19 is urged by spring 17through pin 16 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction to bring pawlsurface 19" into engagement with surface 40" of block 40 thus lockingthe assembly in raised position. Block 40 is preferably rectangular inelevation and surfaces 40' and 40" are thus opposite and parallel.

When the assembly is to be lowered from the posi tion shown in FIG. 3 tothat shown in FIG. 1, lever 16 is manually rotated in a clockwisedirection (Fig. 3) to bring spring 17 into an over-the-center positionwith respect to pivot 18 to rotate pawl 19 through pin 16' in aclockwise direction thus disengaging surfaces 19" and 40". A smallretraction of piston rod 13 may be necessary to clear surfaces 19" and40 It should be noted that pawl 19 resiliently engages block 40 toprovide additional relative movement therebetween to compensate for wearand of the various structural elements which prevents the assembly fromrattling after long use. The arrangement of pawl 19 as above-describedcauses axle plate 20 to wedge tightly against resilient cushion 14 underall circumstances which, as noted above, may necessitate actuation ofpiston rod 13' in the appropriate direction to release the wedgingpressure to permit spring 17 to release pawl 19 after spring 17 has beenmoved to the appropriate over-the-center position.

It is important that handle 16 engage locking pawl l9 through pin 16' inthis lost motion manner to prevent reversal of the action of spring 17until handle 16 is rotated to the opposite over-the-center position tourge pawl 19 to the unlocked position which then automaticall occurswhen piston rod 13' is appropriatel actuate to release the pressureholding pawl 19 in ocked position relative to block 40.

It will be understood that hydraulic power and controls to operatecylinders 13 are provided in conventional and known manner as from anysuitable source of hydraulic fluid under pressure on the vehicle such asthe power steering pump and any suitable hydraulic fluid control valvemay be located on the vehicle for ready use by the operator.

Changes may be made to the above-described illustrative embodiment ofthe present invention in ,structural details thereof without departingfrom the present inventive concept. Reference should therefore be had tothe appended claims to determine the scope of the present invention.

What I claim is:

1. A rail guide wheel assembly for wheeled road vehicles having spacedparallel beams secured beneath the axles of the vehicle and extendingpast the adjacent vehicle wheels comprising at each end of each of thebeams a rail guide wheel raising and lowering a structure, saidstructure including brackets pivoted to the beam, means for adjustingthe position of and for locking said brackets with respect to the beam,an hydraulic cylinder pivoted to said brackets, a piston rod for saidcylinder, an axle plate pivotally mounted between said brackets, saidpiston rod being pivotally connected to said axle plate, an axle carriedby said axle plate, rail guide wheels mounted on said axle, a lock blocksecured between said brackets, a pawl pivotally mounted on said axleplate, a pivot for said pawl, a surface on said pawl engaging a surfaceof said block when said rail guide wheel is in rail engaging position, asecond surface on said pawl engaging a second surface on said block whensaid rail guide wheel is in raised position, a manually actuated handlefor said pawl mounted on said pivot and engaging said pawl selectivelyon opposite sides of said pivot and resilient means urging said handleinto engagement with said pawl.

2. An assembly as described in claim 1 including a resilient cushionmounted between said brackets and engaged by said axle plate when saidrail guide wheel is in raised position.

3. An assembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said pawl andsaid second surface on said pawl being on opposite sides of said pivot.

4. An assembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said block andsaid second surface on said block being on opposite sides of said block.

5. An assembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said pawl andsaid second surface on said pawl being on opposite sides of said pivotand said surface on said block and said second surface on said blockbeing on opposite sides of said block.

I I I

1. A rail guide wheel assembly for wheeled road vehicles having spacedparallel beams secured beneath the axles of the vehicle and extendingpast the adjacent vehicle wheels comprising at each end of each of thebeams a rail guide wheel raising and lowering a structure, saidstructure including brackets pivoted to the beam, means for adjustingthe position of and for locking said brackets with respect to the beam,an hydraulic cylinder pivoted to said brackets, a piston rod for saidcylinder, an axle plate pivotally mounted between said brackets, saidpiston rod being pivotally connected to said axle plate, an axle carriedby said axle plate, rail guide wheels mounted on said axle, a lock blocksecured between said brackets, a pawl pivotally mounted on said axleplate, a pivot for said pawl, a surface on said pawl engaging a surfaceof said block when said rail guide wheel is in rail engaging position, asecond surface on said pawl engaging a second surface on said block whensaid rail guide wheel is in raised position, a manually actuated handlefor said pawl mounted on said pivot and engaging said pawl selectivelyon opposite sides of said pivot and resilient means urging said handleinto engagement with said pawl.
 2. An assembly as described in claim 1including a resilient cushion mounted between said brackets and engagedby said axle plate when said rail guide wheel is in raised position. 3.An assembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said pawl and saidsecond surface on said pawl being on opposite sides of said pivot.
 4. Anassembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said block and saidsecond surface on said block being on opposite sides of said block. 5.An assembly as described in claim 1, said surface on said pawl and saidsecond surface on said pawl being on opposite sides of said pivot andsaid surface on said block and said second surface on said block beingon opposite sides of said block.